Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Part 2 - that is not something I like seeing on the title of a movie. Some do make me curious, I’ll admit it, while others... Can even become a dark spot on someone’s career - I bet that the Oscar nominee Amy Adamswould agree with me here. :)

You’ll think: “she’s already posted pasta al pesto”. And you are right. Since sequels can be masterpieces, too, I present you my pesto part 2.

I saw Nigella cooking this dish on TV but couldn’t write down the recipe - I eyeballed all the ingredients. As I ended up finding it online, I’ll post it here for you.

Even though this pasta recipe is insanely simple, I’ll be honest: I prefer the original pesto sauce. But that doesn’t mean you can’t give the part 2 a try.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and then add the spaghetti. While the pasta is cooking, pour the olive oil into a large frying pan and throw in some peeled cloves of garlic. Cook over gentle heat until the garlic starts to turn light brown and its scent wafts upward. Remove the cloves from the pan and take the pan off the heat.Roughly chop or shred a mound of basil leaves, set aside. In a second dry frying pan, toast a handful or so of pine nuts. When the pasta is ready, drain it, toss it in the garlic-infused olive oil, and then transfer to a warm bowl.Using a vegetable peeler, shave in the parmesan and sprinkle with the toasted pine nuts. Toss well, throw over all but a small handful of the basil leaves, and turn again.Sprinkle with sea salt, black pepper and the remaining shredded basil leaves and serve at once.

I saw you reference to the Zuger Kirchetorte you made in June - and my heart leaped!I live in Zug, Switzerland, and these little cakes are everywhere. I've had a few, living here, and from many different places. I've yet to find one that isn't spectacular.

Anyway, I'm impressed you made it. I hope you loved it, because I sure do.

I like the title for this recipe. Maybe this doesn't taste as good as the original because the flavours don't get to mingle very much? But still it does look like an simple yet elegant dish. Thanks for sharing the sequel with us!!

Ah, Nigella and her oh, so simple dishes! It looks very beautiful, and delicious. I love plain pasta with just a little butter and salt (my mom would make it for me when I was a kid) so this is a step up from that! :)

I like the deconstructed idea - this way you get all of the crunch from the pine nuts!

I have the book and have thought about trying this one, but then I always get put off by the lack of vegetable in there. Maybe some sliced baby spinach stirred through at the last minute would work well.